Daily Covid Deaths Drop to 26-Month Low

Overnight mortalities related to the highly contagious coronavirus declined sharply to 13 on Sunday, the lowest toll in over two years as high vaccination coverage protected the population of 85 million Iranians from relaxed measures. 
Data collected from across the country by the Health Ministry showed that only 13 patients died from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, a record 26-month low, ISNA reported.
Over the past day, 21 of Iran’s 31 provinces registered no deaths and eight logged only one. 
Two cities are still color-coded as red, or very high-risk, in terms of transmission rates, and the vast majority of cities, some 323, are coded as yellow or moderate-risk.
Just last week, the number of cities on red alert was as high as 55.
The national death toll due to the Covid-19 pandemic reached 140,975 on Sunday. 
For two consecutive days, the Health Ministry identified under 1,000 daily patients, figures not seen since the early days of the outbreak. The significant decrease might however be linked to less screening and PCR tests carried out over the three-day weekend last week. 
The sharp drop in fatalities and new cases come as safety measures are widely ignored in schools across the nation, which resumed in-person classes under the order of the government in early April.
According to the Health Ministry, schools have the lowest score in following Covid-19 guidelines (an average of 35%) and theaters rank highest with an average of 85%.

Vaccine Supplies

Iran’s export of Covid-19 vaccines has halted since last November and the Health Ministry purchases homegrown vaccines from local manufacturers to supply jabs for immunization, head of the ministry’s Center for Infectious Disease Control, Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, told ISNA.
“All deals made by the Health Ministry are absolutely clear and the ministry has made purchases accordingly over the past year and this year,” Gouya pointed out. 
The remarks came after local suppliers accused the Health Ministry of not supporting homegrown vaccines in a parliament meeting.
Some seven manufacturers are producing Covid-19 vaccines at affordable cost in Iran. Several are collaborating with international pharmaceutical companies to make the vaccines. 
More than 64.2 million Iranians have been administered the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, 57.4 million have been given the second shot and 26.9 million have received the third booster dose.
Majority of Iran’s population have been vaccinated with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.